Editor's Note: Snow and Strategy

They brave the hills on their sleds and snowboards, breathless and red-cheeked. Some even ski cross-country, forgetting that the country is really just the city or the town. The familiar disappears under Nature's disguise, and anything is possible. Close your eyes and fly. Spin in a hat. Listen to a snowman whistle.

What does this have to do with fundraising? One thing we've learned from snowmageddon is whether your goal is to clear your sidewalk, get to work or simply have fun, strategy is key. Shovel too soon and you'll be at it again in an hour. Wait too long, and the weight of the snow will be backbreaking. The old, familiar route to work might leave you stuck. Not enough layers of clothing and you'll be soaked to the skin before your first trip down the hill. Too many and you can't move.

But aside from that admittedly loose connection, walking around in this marshmallow world for two months has more sharply honed my sense of the fanciful and beckoned more insistently for my inner child to come out and play. It puts me more in touch with Nature, which puts me more in touch with faith, which makes my heart swell with hope. Yes, outrageously. And as you know, outrageous hope is my mantra for the fundraising sector. So here's to hope and to snowstorms, and to the strategies that help us harness their magic and their power.